Sordo’s underwear everywhere

Red-faced Dani Sordo had a brief encounter with multiple pairs of underwear as he set off for Thursday morning’s shakedown at Vodafone Rally de Portugal.

Sordo fell foul of his mischievous mechanics who planted the ladies’ undies inside his Hyundai i20 Coupe as a practical joke dating back to last month’s WRC fixture in Argentina.

One of the superstitious Spaniard’s little-known secrets is that he wears the same underwear on each day of a rally to bring luck.

Sordo washes them every evening before slipping them back on the following morning. But after Saturday’s Argentine action, his underwear failed to dry in time for the final leg.

He donned a different pair but tucked the lucky pants into his car’s door pocket. They remained there until the team discovered them as they re-prepared the i20 back at the team base in Germany.

Just in case Sordo had a problem with his Portugal pants, his team-mates hid plenty of spares in the car before he set off for shakedown.

As he donned his headset for the 40km liaison section, two pairs of undies fell into his lap. He later found a pair in his baseball cap and yet another set in his i20’s tool box. Sordo discovered more pants on his seat as he arrived for the pre-event press conference!

Sordo was happy to be the butt of his colleagues’ joke. “When we need to work, we work but also we have time for fun,” he said.